Why 70% of food exported from Nigeria are rejected -NAFDAC

From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said 70 per cent of food items exported out of Nigeria to Europe and America are rejected because of poor quality packaging and presentation.

The agency said such rejection, over the years, has caused Nigerians huge financial losses as well as damaging the reputation and image of Nigeria at global business community.

Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, in a statement, at the weekend promised that the trend would soon end given ongoing collaboration with other regulatory  agencies that operate at the ports.

She decried  the deplorable state of export trade facilitation for regulated products leaving the country saying this has remained a serious cause for concern for the agency. She said a visit to NAFDAC export warehouses within the international airports would explain unequivocally the major reason for the continuous rejection of Nigerian exports abroad.

She, however, said the agency was responding to the challenge by initiating a collaborative adventure with government agencies at the ports towards ensuring that goods are of requisite quality and meet the regulatory requirements of the importing countries and destinations before being packaged and hauled to the ports for shipment.

She said this would require more enhanced regulation of export packaging, pre-shipment testing and certification to provide some quality assurance and to minimize rejects.

For national reputation in the international commerce, Prof. Adeyeye called on stakeholders in the export trade to collaborate with NAFDAC for the sake of country and collective future.

She commended the Customs for the symbiotic relationship with NAFDAC saying “without customs, we wouldn’t have been able to do a lot of what we have done over the period.”